Made my First Stir Fry Last Night & it Was Gorgeous!

[HawkeyeLinus]

If your stovetop is electric and you have a ring for your round bottomed wok you may have issues getting it as hot as you like but, I have a gas range and for me, not firing it up as high as often recommended for stir fry works just fine and gives me a little more margin for error.

Looks like you got carbon steel, so good job on that - you can always rub down and re-season if need be. I hesitate to say just because it’s black after the blowtorch it is seasoned but it will reveal itself soon enough when you add oil and start moving things about.

 

[karam]

A blowtorch is too intense, if there's seasoning there it will likely flake off, if it doesn't flake off it could catch rust in all the microcracks of the seasoning.

Ultimately I decided against faffing with cast iron much. I have a skillet I use for cornbread and a couple of Dutch ovens for braising meat, making extra creamy legumes etc, they all work fabulously well. I do any frying in bog-standard IKEA non-stick pans, we keep them for a few years until they become sticky and then just buy new ones.

 

[karam]

Interesting that you say that as my first attempt was done in my thick bottomed stainless pan and was an absolute breeze to clean afterwards!

Of course, steel is the hardest kitchen metal, you can be as rough as you like with cleaning it, with heat, with changes in temperature, with acidic ingredients - cast iron hates acid like tomato juice, for example - and it handles everything. It's also not very heavy and is pretty cheap (ultra fancy copper pots and pans cost a FORTUNE and are ridiculously delicate). Not the best conductor (copper, aluminum are) or holder (cast iron wins) of heat but its merits outweigh all drawbacks.

When I was a commis chef many years ago we used heavy brass pots with a tin coating.

Brass huh, don't think I've handled a brass pot actually, doesn't it discolour?

 

[mawnansmiff]

Brass huh, don't think I've handled a brass pot actually, doesn't it discolour?

Actually they lasted quite some while before they needed to be polished up by the kitchen porters. Also, every year or so the insides of the pots had to be re-tinned.

I have a large aluminium frying pan with Teflon coating and I think I possibly used it just the once. Not really sure why I bought it as I have read many horror stories about Teflon.....and aluminium too.

Anyway, regards my wok, later today I'll put it to the test and see how it fries an egg. Apparently that is a good test of it being seasoned well, or not as the case may be

Jay.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Actually they lasted quite some while before they needed to be polished up by the kitchen porters. Also, every year or so the insides of the pots had to be re-tinned.

I have a large aluminium frying pan with Teflon coating and I think I possibly used it just the once. Not really sure why I bought it as I have read many horror stories about Teflon.....and aluminium too.

Anyway, regards my wok, later today I'll put it to the test and see how it fries an egg. Apparently that is a good test of it being seasoned well, or not as the case may be

Jay.

That’s a good test for a seasoned carbon steel fry pan - I wouldn’t fry an egg at stir fry temps - too late, I see smoke rising to the east!!!! Churchill just sat up in his grave - now hot footing it to Blenheim!

 

[karam]

Yeah, would need more fat than a non-stick pan for sure, and lower temperature.

 

[Flatfish]

I'm cooking my stir fry tonight.
Also have chicken in the oven to go with it.

 

[mawnansmiff]

I'm having difficulty in sourcing certain ingredients from my local Asda which is actually huge.

No rice wine, no black bean paste, no mushroom sauce etc. They have plenty of ready made sauces but I'm aiming to make my own as per my recipe book.

That said, my neighbour (who's wife is Filipino) says there's a small shop in Falmouth that specialises in eastern cuisine so I'm hoping he will pick me up some bits & pieces.

I'm attempting beef in black bean & red pepper sauce tonight

Jay.